What is a Carbon Footprint?

A few days ago I explained why us greenies keep banging on about carbon. I know many Bean-Sprouts readers are red-hot on the science and politics of environmentalism, but please bear with me whilst I explain for the rest of the class. If you pay attention, you might even learn something you didn't already know.

Carbon Whatprint?

Digging up fossil fuels and burning them releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which causes climate change. So we want to stop doing that. But how can you tell what sort of things you should be doing? Do low energy lightbulbs really make that much difference? How about cycling instead of driving? What about air travel? Because I really like going on foreign holidays and I don't want to give it up if it doesn't actually make all that much difference.

You can find out by calculating your carbon footprint. That's a measure of how much carbon dioxide you are personally responsible for. For example, if you gave up your car and cycled instead, you'd burn less petrol and release less carbon dioxide. That ought to be fairly easy to calculate if you know how many miles per gallon your car does.

But what about the carbon dioxide produced to make the bike? You've just gone out and bought a new bike, so that needs to be taken into account. How on earth can I find out how much carbon dioxide is produced in making a bike? And what about my new lycra shorts, wrap around sunglasses and Camelbak hydration system? How much carbon are they responsible for?

Footprint Challenge

Fortunately there are any number of websites to help you calculate your carbon footprint painlessly. So that's July's challenge - go and calculate your carbon footprint. That's it. I don't care if it's sky-high or close to zero. Just take a few minutes and find out what it is. Don't forget to vote in the poll in the right-hand sidebar when you've done it. Once you've calculated your carbon footprint, maybe you'll want to think of ways to reduce it. Perhaps you could carry out a carbon audit every year and see how low you can go. But that's not the challenge - the challenge is simply to calculate it. What you do after that is up to you.

Some Carbon Calculators

Carbon Footprint.com

Carbon Calculator.co.uk
Inconvenient Truth Carbon Calculator
My Carbon Footprint.eu